Leaderboard

The next thing I did was to add the reversing lever and smokebox door, which you can see in the photo below. The reversing lever was included (as a single piece) on the etch, but I struggled to fit it between the splasher and the boiler. I think this is probably because of the splasher being a bit over-sized compared to the prototype. In the end I had to file a curved bit out of the lever. The smokebox door was turned on the lathe, doing the curve with a graver. It has a spigot in the back locating it in the etched hole in the smokebox front, and was drilled 0.3mm all the way through to attach the dart later. In this shot you can see the various holes drilled in the boiler for chimney, dome, safety valve and handrails knobs. These holes were all drilled on the Proxxon mill, with the boiler fitted to the footplate as you see here. I marked them out as best I could and then lined up the drill by eye. Perhaps surprisingly, it is much easier to drill very small holes at high speed on the mill than it is to do them by hand - I have much fewer breakages that way. In the photo above you can see the wheels test fitted in some spare "loose" muffs that I now keep for the purpose, after brush painting them with enamels. Those on the loco are the new 3D-printed Association wheels, and very smart they look too! It was at this point that I realised I'd forgotten to attach my carefully etched balance weights! However, I was able to stick these on carefully with Araldite. (The crankpins, incidentally, are also stuck on with Araldite.) Here are some of the wheels after attaching and painting the weights: My most recent efforts have been directed at the mechanism. This first photo shows my planned arrangement for the driveshaft. The motor (a Tramfabriek 7mm coreless from the Association shop) will be in the tender. The white "blob" attached to the motor shaft is the female end of one of the 3D-printed universal joints sold by the Association shop. Two of the male ends are attached to the (rather out of focus) sprue in the foreground. The sprue is larger than the joints themselves. The drive shaft is thin steel wire, and it will glue into one of these male ends. However, at the loco end, you see that I'm planning a different arrangement. Borrowed from Ian Smith, this consists of a hole drilled in the end of the worm axle, and a bent ring in the end of the driveshaft. It's actually easier to drill the hole than to bend a nice ring, so we will see how smoothly it runs. I haven't tried it yet as I still need to establish the correct length of the driveshaft. This next photo shows you the worm in place, along with the wormwheel and intermediate gear (it will drive the rear driving wheel, closest to the camera). I realised that I had not allowed enough of an opening in the bottom of the body to get the chassis in once the worm shaft was attached, so I had to rather awkwardly file and cut away more of the cab floor. Finally, here's a photo of my motor mount, which screws to the floor of the tender. It's the same idea used in my Scrap Tank allowing the motor to be removable. I'm getting close to the moment of truth (first test run)...

A new O Gauge commission build by TheLocoWorks for a private industrial tank locomotive, based from the Connoisseur Models 0-4-0 tank kit. My requirement for this model is broken down as follows: Highly Detailed Cab Interior, using various components Extra detailed chassis Slaters sprung horn blocks DCC control with Lights, Sound & Smoke The first part to tackle on this kit is cutting the frames to accept the slaters sprung horn blocks. Progress has started with the assembly of the horn guides into the etch chassis ensuring that both sides are aligned. The chassis has then been folded up and put to one side to concentrate on the body, whilst we await the motor and gearbox. The body is simple to solder together starting with the cab beading detail, and moving on to the tank sides, all of these elements are then soldered to the footplate, tack soldered first and then check with an engineers square. I’ve then moved on to the cab details, there are a number of parts here from a scrap bin to replace the basic cast parts from Connoisseur, i also wanted to ensure that the whole cast firebox could be removed for detail painting (it becomes to difficult when fitted). The next step is looking at what DCC components i will use in this little locomotive knowing how tight for space we are more to follow........

Spent a couple of hours playing around with my partner's camera to get a shot of a 'Handsome Hymek' on the layout, and a lovely '73'. Anything to put off cleaning and testing the track and point-work...

Eventually I've completed my take on Gloucester 85B resident 46526 using the excellent Bachmann model as a starting point. The DMR chimney has bedded in nicely on the smokebox. Pacific Models provided the source of the smokebox door number plate. A Fox Transfers 85B shed code plate transfer was applied as well. Usual weathering techniques using Tamiya NATO Black/Brown airbrushed for frame dirt. A dusting of NATO black was used on the boiler top and tender coal bunker sides as per prototype photos. Real coal was added to the tender and the cab roof buffed to give an element of wear and tear. Crew once more were a combination of the excellent Hornby and Dapol/Airfix figures painted with Vallejo acrylics. Detail painting and dry brushing using a mix of Vallejo and Citadel paints. The tender axle boxes and steps in particular. Overall a lovely project using a cheaply sourced second hand loco. Just need to add some lamps from Modelu now. One for the Forest of Dean Project representing that lost photo of 46526 taken at Bilson Junction by no other than Ben Ashworth. Or was it Jonty Jarvis and his trusty Thornton Pickard camera?

Had some fun today coming up with my first draught timetable, obviously it needs some honing - but the basic outline is there. Here's one of - what some might call - the more "imaginative" manoeuvres undertaken: Cannon Street service arrives (Class 40 diesel hauled) at the Holding Siding. It uncouples from the coaches, which are taken to the facing siding by my class 20. (Plenty of clearance room!): The Charing Cross service has been waiting patiently at platform 3 - and can now depart: The coaches are then shunted to platform 3 and uncoupled: The diesel can now cross over the points from the holding siding: The points are changed, and the loco can couple to the head of the rake!: Maybe not the most prototypical thing you might see today, but fun to do!

As mentioned last week, I finished the ReZEL. As also mentioned last week, I didn't have a chance to fit the a-parts before I went to press. So, here's the ReZEL with a-parts; I don't much like the a-parts. The giant sword is neat, but it can't hold the thing. The missile pods look way too awkward for my taste, too. I highly doubt I'll mount the parts again. Still needed a shot with the parts for posterity. Here's a fun glamor shot with a surprisingly related suit; Y'all might remember the orange one from last year, the Gray Zeta. So, in-universe, the original Zeta was a prototype for a high-performance unit. Several were built, but never to full production. The Zetas all had MSZ-xxx model numbers, such as the orange Gray Zeta being MSZ-006B-3. A decision to design a cheaper, producible Zeta led to the Refined Gundam Zeta series of suits, or RGZ. The RGZ series eventually led to the RGZ-95C, what I built most recently. If I remember correctly, the RGZ-95 ReZEL was the first of the RGZ series to return to full transformation - earlier RGZ's used simplified systems, often requiring auxiliary units for the 'waverider' modes. Honestly, I just thought it was neat. It was also the only Master Grade kit the local had that wasn't over $100. Didn't feel like dropping multiple bills on another kit right way. I did play with my layout a small bit; see my thread for the work. Realizing I needed parts for the layout, I turned next to an old enemy of mine - an RPM Valentine III. I dislike this kit. The hull has gone together without too much fuss; This all was done tonight, except for the turret plate. I've also finished the lower hull, some years ago in fact. Why haven't I finished the kit in 15 years, you ask? This: NO NOPE NADA NOT HAPPENING SCREW THESE STUPID INDY LINKS These particular individual link tracks are bad. Looks like some mold shift, meaning every link requires significant cleanup. That couples with no positive fit, nor concise directions on how many I need a side, to make a thoroughly unenjoyable experience. Working at these Tuesday night only reinforced my aversion. I've decided I will acquire aftermarket tracks. The Bronco set I'm looking at is still individual link. Bronco's set, though, is a reasonably recent molding. They're also click-fit. That I can tolerate. Maybe I'll eventually finish a tank! We'll see.

These photos show you the progress so far on the loco body. The footplate is made of two layers for strength, both etched: a top layer of 0.25mm nickel silver and a bottom layer of 0.4mm phosphor-bronze. To enable fitting of the buffer beams and side valances, the p/b layer is smaller, and the underside of the n/s layer has a half-etched rebate around the outside. In this next photo you see the main etched parts fitted above the footplate, comprising the cab, smokebox front and splashers. There are a few missing etched details like the reversing lever and lamp irons, along with things like handrails and pipes that will be made separately. You can also see the boiler/firebox which is made from brass tube. I first turned it down on the lathe to leave the smokebox with slightly larger diameter, facing off the ends neatly as well. Then I cut the bottom of the smokebox off with the piercing saw. I also cut a slit across at the front of the firebox and back along the centre, before bending this roughly to shape with pliers. Next we see the boiler in place for test fitting. A lot of filing and fettling was needed to get it to fit in nicely. I had etched a transverse vertical piece in n/s to fit into a slot in the footplate and form the front of the firebox. However, I found that I had put the firebox front too far forward compared to the prototype, and had to modify both the position of the n/s front piece and the brass boiler. I filled in the resulting gap underneath the latter using an offcut of the same brass tube. The next photo shows the boiler/firebox soldered in place. The smokebox front is slightly larger diameter than the brass, so will need careful filing/sanding down to fit. Before soldering the boiler on I had soldered two 12BA nuts on to the top of the footplate at the front and rear, to hold the chassis fixing screws. The photo below shows the chassis held in place by these screws for test fitting, still with its jig ends attached.